Girl Rescues Orange Seahorse Mistaken For A Cheeto, The Creature Turns Yellow Once She Feels Better

A little girl was walking down the Indian Shores Beach near Tampa, Florida, when she saw something she thought was a Cheeto. When she picked it up, the girl realized it was a seahorse in desperate need of help. The child put the tiny fellow into her sand bucket, filled it with water and rushed to show the seahorse to her mom.

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They called the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA). After close examination, it turned out to be a female lined seahorse, a type that changes colors to match its surroundings. She must have lived in red and orange sponges before being swept to the shore – thus the orange color.

“The chances of surviving being dropped by a seagull in the sand are small,” Don Stansell, a marine biologist with CMA, told The Dodo. “It’s amazing because all of the things happened at the exact right time and probably only in a two-minute window for her to have survived.”

A week after her rescue, the seahorse ate for the first time. She also changed her color into bright yellow to match her surroundings. The staff even set up a webcam – the seahorse recovery was streamed live on CMA’s Facbook page.